“By the Way, Meet Vera Stark,” the biting 2011 comedy by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, and Dominique Morisseau’s “Detroit ’67,” a riot-themed work that recently won the $100,000 Edward Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History, will be among plays presented next season at Penumbra Theatre.

The 2014-15 lineup at the St. Paul company shows the influence of Sarah Bellamy, who was named co-artistic director of the theater in January and who is in a multi-year leadership transition with her father, Lou Bellamy, founder of the nation’s largest and most esteemed African-American company.

“The changeover is moving pretty fast — faster than I expected,” said the Lou Bellamy. “But it’s cool. We have the same concerns, respect and care for black people.”

“The thing I’m really excited about is that we’re beginning to see the shift toward a broader organization, definitely a theater company but one with a robust education program,” said Sarah Bellamy. “Next season we’re celebrating the triumphs and tragedies of women, black women in particular. We’re doing that through education and films, through conversations and community engagement, and through the great work onstage.”

The season kicks off with two one-person shows. Petronia Paley’s “On the Way to Timbuktu” explores a character’s peripatetic life, and is directed by Talvin Wilks (“The Ballad of Emmett Till”) (Oct. 16-26). Radha Blank’s “HappyFlowerNail,” directed by Liesl Tommy, explores the lives of five women who work in a Korean-American-owned salon in the gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford- Stuyvesant (Nov. 6-16).

Sure, holiday baking traditions are great. But isn't it time to try a new sweet treat this year? The Holiday Cookie Finder has every winning recipe from our annual baking contest from the past 14 years.